Recent reviews by lasthidingplace

Just fantastic!!

8/10

There are mixed reviews for Elex at the time of writing, and a lot of "big" reviewers out there are jumping on the bandwagon as well of running the game down.

In a lot of ways, they aren't wrong with their complaints; however, I personally believe it shows a lot about the average gamer now that people are unable to overlook certain things in ways they used to be able to, because Elex is an amazing game once you scratch the surface!


I would liken the combat to a really clunky version of Dark Souls - the combat IS tough, but I can only recommend quick saving a lot.

At first, you cannot really take on anything - if you have played the developers previous titles such as Risen, you will be familiar with this format - but, at the point I had got too, I was able to easily defeat most enemies with the fantastic ranged weapon I had.

I guess my point here is, do not let the difficulty ruin it for you; persevere, and an amazing game will unfold for you.


This is a term I have read a lot when looking into this game, and I don't agree with it at all. It's certainly true that some of the textures aren't the highest quality that I've seen, however the lighting in this game is expertly done.

When people talk about "graphics" however, I feel they always miss out something that I personally feel is far more important; aesthetic cohesion.


Exploring the world of Elex, it becomes very evident that all the objects in the world have been placed very carefully by the developers to create a world that is not only fun to traverse, but believable and alive.

This, in my opinion, is far more engrossing than silky, top notch graphics with a boring, dull and empty world.

Again, I actually quite like the graphics however; the environments are awesome, and if someone could run this game on PS3 Hardware I'd be pretty amazed!!


Yeah; this game has a main story.

It's...alright.

The game is split into chapters, the game world "moving on" at the end of each chapter, which of course is determined by the main missions you complete.

I never completed the main story, but in the 50 something hours I put into this game, I felt like I had a huge amount of fun with this game.


Although some of the Side Quests felt menial, in a lot of RPG's every single one of the Side Quests follows the format of: "oh, I really need this thing, but I cannot get it myself...will you get it, even though its just over the hill behind me? I'll give you a pittance for it if you do - thanks buddeh!".

In Elex, a lot of the Side Quests felt far more involved than this, and even if they were a quest as explained above, the thing you needed to get was more often than not across a dangerous section of map that you had to battle to get too.

One of my favourite "side quest" moments was challenging a guard to a fight because my reward was rubbish, only for him to knock me down with one punch; after I got back up, I literally taunted him again...my lights were once again knocked out. Why did it let me do this? Who cares...I came back later and kicked the crap out of him, so everything was set right in the end!

Another fun moment was when one of my companions revealed something rather disturbing to me after getting me to kill some people that were after him. This came from out of nowhere, and was a disturbing and amazing moment that completely threw me at the time, changing my opinion of this character.

At a different time, I came across something from simply exploring; I saw a lovely looking lighthouse in the distance, and decided to visit it. There was a surprise waiting for me there, which...it was just brilliant.


There are factions in this game, and joining one links you to it forever. It also means that, while you can still do side quests for the other factions, the quest chain linked to joining that faction will be locked out.

Each faction has different merits, so it's not a decision to rush into lightly - however, picking a faction early on is highly recommended.

Getting up the ladder in your faction can also be a slog, but the better armour that you can purchase on each rank makes this HIGHLY worth it.

I can only speak for the Clerics, whom I joined, but the quests and "grinding" to get up the ranks actually felt fun and rewarding.


All the clichés are true; it's a hidden gem, a diamond in the rough, etc etc.

I am guilty myself of avoiding the game for months based on the negative reviews, but I'm glad I finally bought it as I've enjoyed it immensely, and will probably play it again in the future.

After reading my review, if you feel that it sounds like something you'd enjoy, just do it!! Especially if you see it on a sale for £20 or less, which is more likely to be the case now going forward!!

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The year of PES!

Very impressed with this iteration of PES - I'm usually one to buy Fifa on release, but after playing the Fifa 18 demo I was left with a feeling of "...huh...so that's identical to Fifa 17 then?".

When I saw this on sale for under £30, I grabbed it immediately; and I am hugely impressed with it.

Everything about this iteration is better than Fifa in my opinion (at least, compared to the demo I played) - true, you have to use option files as everyone knows, but once that's done it's highly worth it.

I genuinely don't get the negative reviews.

Performance

This game runs very smooth at a constant 60fps for me on my system:

AMD FX 8350
Nvidia GTX 1060 (6gb)

One thing I have to mention however is that there are occasional "hitches" during gameplay...usually three or four during a match. They are literally for a split second, and although annoying they don't impact the gameplay in any way. I just don't know how to get rid of them though, as using an FPS counter shows the FPS doesn't even dip at all during these "stutters".

Ansel

And I always give a few extra points to games that bother to integrate Ansel, as I love taking screenshots and this just makes that far easier...I just wish you could activate Ansel during player celebrations.

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This is another game I need to re-play on PC as I originally finished it on XBOX360. It is a truly amazing journey, and has deep and memorable characters throughout.


In my brief time on the PC version I did not encounter any errors or issues, and it seemed to run flawlessly.


By today's standards it does look dated, but really...that doesn't matter. The game is not about looks, it's about experience, story and development (you know...an RPG).


Seeing as it's been a long time since I last played it properly, a lot of the finer details have faded away now so I will just conclude by saying that if you have never played this before (and you very much enjoy lengthy Bioware efforts), then simply grab this game.

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This is another one of those games that I'm pretty much 99% of people already have (and the remaining 1% have it on their Wishlist), but there is really nothing negative to say here.


Just as it's predecessor, RotTR explodes into action and continues to keep the momentum going throughout tee campaign. Just as before, there are additional quests and challenge dungeons, which are all of high quality, but sometimes you don't want to break away from the main story (and that's absolutely fine!!).


This is one of the first games that's shown me I now need to upgrade my GTX 760, rather than just wish to do so. It looks amazing, and I am rather annoyed that I cannot run it on Ultra - that being said, it looks simply fantastic on anything from Medium upwards...you will never get a bad experience.


There is definitely high replay value here, if you are a completionist or you don't manage to complete all the side content on one run through.

I'm personally not one of those people and I rarely go back through games, but this is certainly one that (in a year or two) I would happily would!


This is an easy one to recommend, and I feel it's necessary for anyone's collection if you are fan of high action, great characters and fun exploration.

Bioshock...famed for being the spiritual successor to System Shock, this game is simply a MUST BUY!


This game is almost-perfect, and the first time you play this, the story gives you an amazing feeling. This is one of those games where providing any information about the story would simply ruin it, so all I can honestly say is if you have never played this before...get on that immediately.

It's incredibly immersive with extremely memorable characters (even through audio-logs), and the environments are absolutely amazing. Every corner of Rapture feels alive, and is just begging to be explored further.

Back in 2006 (I think?) when this first game out, I was completely blown away with how amazing this looks - over 10 years later, and I still think it looks amazing!!!!!


The "mixed" reviews really do make me sad - especially when I personally have had no issues whatsoever with it, bar the odd crash here and there.

I obtained this for free due to owning the original versions (ala Darksiders), but given the mixed reviews from people having issues, I would say be very cautious when purchasing this version.


This is one of this games where, as a remaster that hasn't been handled brilliantly, I have to try and summarise both the product and the remaster separately.

So, I'm going to do just that:

Bioshock is easily a 10/10 game and should be experienced by everyone and anyone. Get it immediately.

The Remaster seems like another story - for me personally, it's been fine. But others are having tremendous issues, so I would err on the side of caution on this one.

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This is one of those games that I haven't finished, but fully intend to go back to in the future to do just that.

Everything about this game is literally stunning; it's got an amazing art style, coupled with a fantastic mix of platforming and (minor) puzzle, with a very creative concept, unique monsters / bosses, and a great sense of exploration and progression. The soundtrack is also top notch, which is far more important than some people give it credit for!

Also, the map is pretty massive-looking.


While there are no quests in the traditional sense, there are certainly objectives you must complete before you can move on to the next one. I liken the progression to that of Dark Souls - you must do XYZ to unlock a shortcut, and then doing ZYX allows you to move on to the next area.

There are also merchants, so...


You don't have equipment in the traditional sense either, but you accumulate upgrades to make your journey more manageable.

The first significant upgrade you acquirer is a form of magic; this is then needed to progress to a new area, further demonstrating my section above.

Other upgrades are to be discovered along the way as well.


I purchase this at I believe around £15 upon release - it's current price (18/07/2017) is £10.99. I can literally think of no reason not to grab this game if you are interested in platforming indie titles. If you are in any doubt whatsoever, wait for a sale - you'll wonder why you waited at all!!!

Just like a lot of others, I initially tried it after purchase and was a little disappointed - I wasn't sure I would ever like it. Seeing as I had just bought it however, and given some of the other reviews I had read, I persevered with it.

I have to say, after having this controller for about a year, that I don't regret it one bit; in fact, I actually prefer it to my PS4 controller now. When I have to use Origin (for example), I find myself really disappointed that I simply cannot use the Steam controller.


The Gyro-movement is a hugely under-rated feature as well - this works amazingly well for aiming, especially when you tweak the settings. This is part of the reason I miss using the controller so much when I have to move back to my PS4 one; playing through Prey recently on PS4 was terrible for that as I kept trying to tilt the damn thing when aiming.


And it keeps improving; since I had it, they have introduced several new features, including an experimental rumble.


For the majority of games, there are an absolute tone of other players configurations; just pick the one you want, re-map any bits of it to taste and save it as your own. You can of course set one up from scratch, but I personally never bother - other people have done a much better job than I have, to the point where I prefer them to the developer recommended presets.


The only negatives I have after over a year of using the hardware is the "build quality", the battery life and some of the face button positions.

Hopefully we will see a Steam Controller 2.0 in the future with these issues addressed.


The plastic does feel rather cheap (and very smudge-prone) - this makes the overall build of the controller feel cheap, but in reality it's anything but. Some of the buttons (and haptic-feedback) are also quite noisy, but you get used to that. In fact, I usually play rhythmic sounds with the feedback while waiting for games to load, but that's just me!!


The controller uses regular batteries, and they don't seem to last very long either. I have personally given up now and just have it plugged in via USB all the time (with the batteries left in to keep the weight ratio correct).


The thumbstick does seem to be slightly too close to the facebuttons, and when positioned to the right it is almost touching your right hand thumb. It just feels a bit unnatural. On this note, the buttons themselves do seem to be a bit further down - when your muscle memory is attuned to the buttons being higher up, you contentiously press the wrong ones when not looking. Again, this is something you get used too in time.


All in all, I cannot recommend this enough; it just needs time. You HAVE to get used to it; I saw someone else liken it to when games consoles first invented dual thumbsticks...that was indeed a weird time, but we integrated to it and it would now seem weird NOT to have two thumbsticks. This is the crux of the matter for me; this replaces tradition with a new idea; this might not be for everyone, but I heatedly believe anyone can get used to this if they give it enough time.

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Bioshock Infinite is the third entry in the Bioshock franchise (and the second to be made by the original creators), and in many ways it's the best in the series...but in others, it just falls short.


Infinite is SUCH a good looking game; it hasn't aged at all badly, and on top end PC's (and now PS4) it looks absolutely amazing; this is a GOOD game engine, and hopefully we will see more releases from a (more refined) version in the future (Bioshock 4 please!).


Just like the original, Infinite continues the idea of a Utopia away from civilisation; however, this time we're going up into the skies instead of down into the depths of the ocean.

This is one of the areas is falls short in my opinion, but it's in no fault of the game itself; it's trying to replicate the amazing feeling that the first game provided and continue on with a fantastic original idea, but it doesn't quite manage it.

Looking at the story and the atmosphere as a stand alone product, it's absolutely amazing; it's simply out-shadowed by its conception.


There are a pair of recurring characters throughout this story which just fascinate me; they are fantastically written, for what lines they do have, and their placement in the story is perfectly executed.

Emily is also a fantastic character that you just can't help but like; especially in sections where there are things to see...she will literally run around, admiring things.


I never completed ALL of the DLC, but I can confirm that if you get the package as a whole, they are worth it - especially if you are interested in a mini-origin story of Atlas.


All in all, I whole-heartedly recommend this - and nowadays, this will never be full price!

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I want to preface this review by stating that I never finished the game, but I DID play a lot of it!

This is a game I randomly got free some years back on PS3 via PS+ and never really touched - I tried to play it, but just couldn't get into it. I put it down and never returned.

I decided to grab it on PC some years later, MOD the hell out of it (graphics stuff) and give it another go; and I am very glad I did, as it's a hugely under-rated game in my opinion that demands another entry from Capcom!


It's not an easy game by any means, but once you get the handle on things it's very rewarding. Having a follower (pawn) is pretty necessary throughout this adventure, as it simply adds the additional firepower that's needed.

Also, save. A lot.


The tutorial is the thing that put me off the game the first time around - it throws you into an already existing battle with not much prior knowledge to what's going on, and certainly nothing regarding the story itself. You fight your way through the area you are in and then the real game begins.

For some reason, this put me off the first time around - so my advise to anyone looking at this game is to push through this section, then forget everything except for how to control the game...your story begins NOW!


It's from Capcom, so I'm sure you'll already know what to expect; but this game is rough around the edges, and your character is wooden. I think this adds to the charm in my opinion however, but some people simply wouldn't like this aspect!


All in all, I would recommend this game - it isn't the best game in the universe, but once you get used to the clunky nature of the game, a vast, rewarding RPG awaits!

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